Share
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Flipboard
Print
Email

Transportation Washington March 2006 Newsletter

March 31, 2006
Cascadia

Legislative Wrap-Up

In a short 60-day session, the Legislature made great progress in a number of areas, including education, medical malpractice, the environment and transportation. Of particular importance to transportation, the use of biofuels became a reality and Puget Sound regional transportation set a new course.

Biofuels Issue Bonds East and West
Senate Bill 6508: Positive steps from foreign oil to renewable energy

Thanks to a coalition of environmentalists, farm groups, and organized labor with political support from Republicans and Democrats, Washington state is a national leader in renewable energy standards.

Senate Bill 6508 was successfully passed, requiring that gasoline sold in Washington contain two percent ethanol and diesel contain two percent biodiesel by 2008. The amount of biofuel can increase over time to ten percent ethanol and five percent biodiesel if certain conditions are met.

“We are talking about economic development, revitalizing some of our agricultural communities as well as cleaner air,” said State Rep. Janea Holmquist (R-Moses Lake). “This is a step in the right direction in breaking our addiction to foreign and domestic oil.”

The bill includes a variety of incentives for in-state biofuel crop growing and biofuel production.

Reform and Investment in Regional Transportation
House Bill 2871: An End to Transit and Roads Wars?

After years of discussion, Central Puget Sound is about to witness sweeping changes in the way regional transportation projects are planned and funded.

With Gov. Christine Gregoire leading the negotiations, ESHB 2871 was passed in the closing days of the Legislative session, providing a newly consolidated approach to road and transit planning. With Sound Transit (ST) and the Regional Transportation Investment District (RTID) sharing a common ballot in 2007, the bill works to eliminate the transit and road wars typical of the tri-county region.

Some of the bill’s highlights include:

  • No vote for ST or RTID in 2006
  • Mitigation for additional transit during road project construction
  • Allowance for operations, preservation and maintenance of tolled facilities and passenger ferries
  • Lowering of RTID sales tax authority to 0.1 percent, and increase of its Motor Vehicle Excise Tax to 0.8 percent
  • Broadened RTID tolling authority to include Lake Washington bridges—State Route 520 and Interstate 90—and system tolling
  • Expanded provisions for the SR 520 bridge, including mitigation requirements and the establishment of an expert review panel to review finance and implementation plans
  • Establishment of nine-member regional transportation commission to make recommendations to the 2007 Legislature of a new Puget Sound governing entity, the scope of its planning authority, and a list of revenue options

Creative Commuting

Jumping in the car to run an errand or go to work only to get caught in a wall of traffic can be frustrating. But, more than ever, there are alternatives. A number of efforts are underway around the state to find creative solutions to getting around, quickly and efficiently.

In Vancouver, for example, area leaders are launching a $1.9 million two-year study of high-capacity transit options for Clark County. The study will focus on high-capacity corridors, as well as which modes achieve the best results. For more information, click here for a news article in The Columbian.

Also in Vancouver, the City Council and the Chamber of Commerce are working to implement a business surcharge that will raise more than $3 million a year to improve roads and intersections. For more on that topic, click here for an editorial published in The Columbian.

In Bellingham, a Community Car Share Program is underway. The program is patterned after similar car-sharing programs springing up throughout the nation.

In Seattle, a renewed emphasis on alternatives to automobiles is underway, with specific programs encouraging bicycling, walking, car sharing, vanpooling and ride sharing. See the Seattle P-I item: “A drive toward fewer cars.”

Ports and Ferries

  • The Port of Walla Walla has received $3.5 million from the just-completed Legislative session. The money will provide the last of the dollars needed to support a rail project that will give Washington growers direct service to East Coast markets.The Port already has received $3.2 million in grants and loans from the state and federal governments. The remaining balance of $7.5 million, which will be picked up by the Port, will be used to secure land, provide water service and build a road in support of an $18 to $20 million distribution center being built by Railex, a New York-based shipping company.

    The distribution center will employ about 100 people and provide train service for growers to supply eight million pounds of produce to New York markets.

  • The Port of Seattle has given the initial green light to return one terminal to cargo operations and move cruise ships to a new Elliott Bay location.The draft plan, with a cost of $90 to $120 million, is designed to increase cargo capacity at North America’s fastest growing container port, as well as create as many as 725 new jobs.

    Under the plan, a two-berth facility for cruise ships is called for at Terminal 91 (near the Magnolia Bridge). Princess Cruises and Holland America, which currently operate from Terminal 30, would hopefully complete the move by 2008.

    Port officials have pointed to the growing number of goods coming from Asia as the main reason driving cargo expansion projects. Commissioners are expected to take up the question of full construction funding in February 2007.

  • With the passage of Senate Bill 6787, King and Kitsap Counties may have new potential in developing passenger foot-ferry service for a route for Seattle–Vashon–Southworth. The bill directs that two state-owned passenger-only ferries be sold with the money to provide operating grants which could be used to subsidize operations or pay facility costs.The counties have until November 1 of this year to complete and submit business plans to the Legislature and governor.

Spotlight on Cascadia

  • Former Sen. Slade Gorton, a Discovery Institute board member, offered his perspective on regional transportation in The Seattle Times recently, verbalizing the question so many have been asking: “Who’s in charge?”
  • Cascadia’s Dave Earling and Bruce Agnew co-wrote an op-ed for The Everett Herald, calling on regional leadership in transportation. Read: “Region Must Take Next Step to Improve Transportation.”
  • The March premiere issue of Seattle Metropolitan magazine featured a two-page spread on the Cascadia Center, titled “Transport Czar (or) Things as They Are?”.
  • The Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s Joel Connelly quoted Cascadia’s Bruce Agnew on U.S. port security, specifically on the federal neglect of West Coast port infrastructure. The writing, it seems, is on the wall: “Holes in Port Security Can Cost Us Dearly.”
  • With the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C. rapidly approaching, the time is ripe for increased border mobility and transportation improvements. Business in Vancouver editor Tim Renshaw praised Cascadia’s Bruce Agnew for “thumping the soapbox … about improving rail connections between Seattle and Vancouver.” Click here to read the full column: “Seattle and Whistler commuter links on the wrong transportation track.”

Cascadia Center Presentations

Cascadia’s Bruce Agnew has appeared in a variety of presentations, including the Cross Border Regions Roundtable in Vancouver, B.C. and the Seattle Streetcar Kick-off in Seattle. In addition, he was interviewed by Seattle Metropolitan for its premiere March issue. Click here for the text of the article.

Cascadia’s Tom Till spoke to a national rail passenger conference at the University of Delaware in Newark. He described the improvements to date and future investment plans for intercity passenger rail service in Washington state, as well as federal changes needed to expand passenger rail service.

Cascadia’s Dave Earling will moderate and speak at a Transportation Summit to be held March 27 in Moses Lake. He will also moderate and speak at the South Snohomish County Chamber of Commerce on May 16.

Transportation Leadership Forum Series: Mark Your Calendars!

  • Are We Ready for Tolls?
    April 12
  • Future Trends in Energy, Technology, and Transportation
    May 31 and June 1
    Stay tuned for more information …

Puget Sound Editorials on Regional Transportation

Leading up to and following the passage of the Puget Sound Regional Transportation bill (ESHB-2871) a number of op-eds and editorials—including our own—cropped up touting various opinions on the way the Puget Sound transportation decisions are made. Views ranged from the need to keep the current decision making process in place to a need for outright change.

Before the Bill:

After the Bill: